Chapter 02: Escape From Bruhl
Escape From Bruhl is the second Chapter of Valkyria Chronicles. The combat mission is called Retreat From Bruhl. Story Welkin runs home, hurrying still more as he hears a gunshot from inside the house. Inside, Martha Lipponen is lying on the ground, with Isara standing beside her facing two Imperial soldiers. The soldiers ponder if Martha is pregnant or just fat, then notice Isara's shawl, realising she is a Darcsen. Isara spots a rifle nearby and dashes for it, pointing it at one soldier and demanding both leave immediately. The soldier steps forward, seemingly about to shoot her, when suddenly Welkin bursts in and strikes the other soldier with a fence post, knocking him to the ground. The first soldier swings around his weapon and a shot rings out, but it's revealed to have been from Isara's gun; the Imperial soldier keels over dead. Isara tells Welkin that Martha has gone into labour; he wonders how they'll get out with all the Imperial soldiers storming the town. Isara says their fathers have left them something that might help get them out of this, and leads him out to the barn. Welkin is surprised to find his father's tank, the Edelweiss, is being kept in the house's barn; Isara explains she enrolled in a military maintainance class and fitted it with a new turbine engine; Welkin took an armoured vehicle course in high school as part of Gallia's universal military service. The two move Martha to the tank and move out to support Alicia at the town gate. Map The Gate is located at the South end of a road that runs the length of the map; the start position features sandbag walls facing North and West, and a watchtower in the middle. An open area containing a hill is located to the East of the road behind a line of houses. On turn 3, a new area appears, a square to the Northeast screened off by a wooden barricade, containing the Edelweiss. The enemy Ace, Segular the Wall, is located directly behind where the Edelweiss starts, in an alley between two houses. Listen closely! A series of tutorials are given on a per-turn basis; the first explains Grenades and their ability to destroy sandbags. On the second turn a tutorial is given regarding the use of Ragnaid, while the third turn has multiple tutorials explaining how Tanks move, attack and take damage. This is also the first mission to feature classes other than Scouts, in the form of enemy Shocktroopers. Strategy Escape From Bruhl is another relatively easy mission, really only requiring that Alicia survives for two turns. The tank tends to ignore Alicia and the Town Watchmen, leaving only the Shocktroopers as a real threat. On turn one, control Alicia and move over the sandbags to throw a grenade between the two sets of sandbags furthest from the gate; this should destroy both. Now, run her back and duck her behind the sandbags where she started, facing West. Spend two more CP moving the Western Town Watchman up the ladder of the watchtower, and ducking the Eastern one behind the sandbags facing the hill. End the turn. The enemy will move up their tank and fire at the gate, then spend the rest of their CP advancing infantry towards the gate; at least one Shocktrooper will move in, followed by, in all likelihood, one of the map's two Scout Leaders. Interception fire from Alicia and the two Watchmen will probably kill any Scouts thanks to the lack of cover on their side of the road, though the Shocktrooper might injure Alicia slightly if he doesn't die. Another Scout will move up on the hill and fire on the Watchman to the East, most likely taking significantly more damage than he deals. Skip the next phase completely; this should leave five CP in stock. The enemy will once again attack the gate; if the Shocktrooper survived, he'll move up and crouch behind the final set of sandbags, throwing a grenade and then taking a shot at Alicia with a second CP. The enemy Scout on the hill to the East will almost certainly die no matter what he does. When the enemy's turn ends, the Edelweiss appears in the Northeast corner of the map. Unfortunately, this is the baseline Edelweiss with an Innate Accuracy of 6 and an E-accuracy main gun, so it's a good idea to immediately save the game; at present, it's quite capable of missing a target it's actually touching. Five CP are allotted, raising the total to ten. Move the Edelweiss through the wooden barricade and fire a mortar round at the centre of the group of infantry skulking behind the building ahead; this should kill most of them, but priority should be given to killing the Shocktrooper. Move Edelweiss as far West as it will go, then end the turn. Control Alicia and immediately run East, especially if there's a surviving Shocktrooper by the gate, then run North over the hill, getting as close to the Scout Leader as needed to get a headshot. Continue to run North and then East, into the area where Edelweiss started out. Control Alicia again and move towards the buildings that were behind Edelweiss to find the first enemy Ace, Segular the Wall. There's no good way to take him by surprise and still beat the mission, so just move as close as possible and aim for his head; if he dodges, reload and try again. Once the Ace is down, control the Edelweiss again and turn onto the North-South road to target the tank's exposed radiator. Getting the top rank here comes down to luck; there's CP enough for three shots, and only two need to hit; one hit to the body and a second to the radiator is enough for a kill. Move the Edelweiss closer on each CP to increase the chance of hitting. As soon as the tank is destroyed, the mission is complete. Rewards As well as the usual awards of Experience and Ducats, a ZM Kar 1(g) will be awarded if the enemy Ace has been killed. This, like many enemy Ace weapons, has high damage but very low accuracy. Aftermath The city gate is successfully defended, and the majority of the population makes it out before Bruhl is overrun. In the closing scene of the battle, Isara informs a surprised Welkin that Martha gave birth to a healthy boy, right there in the tank. Irene Koller's narration states the battle for Bruhl was over after just two hours; Imperial soldiers are seen surveying the ruins of the town. The view then switches to the hillside where the first battle took place. Alicia cries as she talks about how terrible it is seeing her town burning, while Welkin says he hopes one day he'll understand how animals can live together and cooperate, so he can pass the knowledge on to children as a teacher. Both swear that someday, they'll come back to Bruhl. Notes *As with the previous mission, this is a variation of the larger Windmill Plaza map that is used in Chapter 12: The Fight for Bruhl and Skirmish 7. This map is extended to the East, with the area where the Edelweiss appears not accessible in the full-size map. *As before, the enemy Light Tank has a critical multiplier of 1.5 rather than 10.0, making it require two hits to the radiator from Edelweiss' stock cannon and ammunition. *Orders are not available in this mission even after the Edelweiss arrives. Category:Articles needing images Category:Valkyria Chronicles Category:Missions